


To Return Home

by whitehorsetiger



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dedication, Fluff, Keith is Human?, Lance is a Shark, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, Mer AU, Minor Angst, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 20:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17856434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitehorsetiger/pseuds/whitehorsetiger
Summary: The reef-mer and the shark-mer had been at war for years, so long no one was really sure why they were even fighting anymore. Eventually they decided to end the animosity between them, the youngest prince of the sharks was to marry the prince of the reef. That was until…the night before the wedding, the prince of the reef vanished.One year after his ill-fated engagement to the prince of the reef, Lance is travelling back to see his family when he rescues a human who has fallen off a ship. Little did he know, this simple act would change his life forever.





	To Return Home

The reef-mer and the shark-mer had been at war for years, so long no one was really sure why they were even fighting anymore. The two different kingdoms avoided each other, neither of them really wanting to get into any scuffles. Eventually they decided to end the animosity between them, the youngest prince of the sharks was to marry the prince of the reef. That was until…the night before the wedding, the prince of the reef vanished.

****

Prince Lance, youngest child of the king and queen of the sharks was exploring the open ocean around sunset. It had been almost a year since his ill-fated engagement to the prince of the reef mer and Lance, was not all that bothered about it. Sure, he was sad for the queen, who had lost her only child, but Lance had never met the other prince, so he wasn’t that torn up over the loss of his would-be husband.

A ship had passed through this area recently, in fact it was very close by. Twitching his tail lightly, Lance shrugged to himself. He had nothing better to do today, might as well see what the humans were up to. There wasn’t anyone else around, not for miles. Lance had been travelling between two different provinces, hoping to catch one of the other shark pods on their migration paths. Unfortunately, he’d missed them so was heading back to where he was supposed to meet his family. He had time.

Lance streaked through the water easily, very quickly catching up with the ship. Lance bobbed to the surface for a second, spotting the ship not too far away. It was a huge sailing vessel and Lance’s jaw dropped. Lance didn’t really go actively look for human vessels, he didn’t really have that much interest in them. Didn’t stop him taking a look when they were there, or if he found a sunken ship having a poke around. But that had to be one of the biggest ships he’d ever seen in his life.

Diving back underwater, Lance followed the ship with lazy flicks of his tail. That was until he saw, something, in the water. Lance froze, watching the mass of…something in the water. Then that something moved and Lance darted over. It was a person, a person slowly sinking towards the sea floor. They weren’t moving, head tilted back with a few small bubbles escaping through their nose. Lance grabbed them and hauled them up to the surface.

Lance thrashed his tail powerfully to keep the two of them above the water, holding the human close and hoping he wasn’t dead. A cough and water flowed out of the human’s mouth, before he took a deep, shuddering breath. He was still unconscious, but at least he was alive.  
“How did you even manage to fall off the boat?” Lance said, assuming that’s what happened, “Lucky I was in the area.”

He could haul this human back to the boat, it wasn’t too far away. But, Lance had no idea if he would be able to get the two of them up on deck. Land would be easier, it wasn’t too far away and there was a human settlement by the beach so this human could get the help he needed. With this plan in mind, Lance floated onto his back, settling Keith on his chest and beginning to pull him along. No problem.

****

It was dark by the time they reached shore, which Lance was grateful for. He did not really want to be bothered by humans, especially with what he was about to do. Mer were elegant, beautiful and graceful creatures. All that immediately went away when they tried to go on land. Lance flopped inelegantly onto the sand, hauling himself and the human out of the water. Luckily it was high tide, so Lance didn’t need to pull him up that far to get to relative safety.

Lance panted harshly as he dropped the human on the beach, unused to having to use his lungs for so long. After a few seconds, Lance turned back to the human. Lance could see his chest rising and falling with breaths, resting his head on the man’s chest, Lance breathed out a sigh of relief as he heard his heart thundering away in his chest. The human wasn’t going to die, well…not immediately.

Shuffling over to the human, Lance peered at him. He didn’t look at humans that much, or this closely. It was dark, but the light of the moon was more than enough for Lance. Very gently, he pushed the human’s dark hair away from his face. Lance hummed lightly, running his finger over smooth, pale skin.  
“You know,” he said, “You’re kind of pretty, for a human.”  
Lance tilted his head back and gave a loud cry, hoping someone would hear him and come looking. He didn’t really just want to leave this human alone on the beach.  
“You know, you are really lucky,” Lance said, “I’m being far to nice to you.”  
He swished his tail in the sand lightly, resting his hand on the human’s chest.  
“Well, you’re still breathing,” he said , “If someone finds you while we’re soon young, you’ll be just fine.”

It took a little while for anyone to respond to Lance’s cries, the whole time he kept talking to the unconscious human. There wasn’t any need to, but Lance was just going to keep talking.  
“I think it came from over here!” Voices shouted suddenly.   
Lance smiled, spotting the light the humans were carrying as they made their way onto the beach.  
“Well, this is where I leave you,” Lance smiled, “Don’t go falling off of anymore boats again, you might not be so lucky next time.”  
Giving the human’s cheek one last poke for good measure, Lance hauled himself back into the water. He swam far enough away that the human’s lights wouldn’t reveal him, but Lance could still keep an eye on what was happening.

The humans rushed down the beach, obviously spotting the person laying there. The two of them immediately started attending to him, they talked in hushed voices, discussing how they were going to move the human. Lance smiled, seemed he was in good hands.

****

It was a couple of weeks before Lance returned to the land where he’d dropped off the human. He hadn’t gone with the intention of looking for the human, he’d gone because it was right besides reef-mer territory and he was going to discuss the new terms of the treaty. So, during a break from peace talks, Lance decided to head towards the land. He doubted he would see the human he saved, but there were some reef sharks that liked to hang around that area.

Lance slipped under the docks, wove between the ships. It was busy, but the humans were too preoccupied with whatever they were doing to notice him. There was a large building up on a cliff not that far away, people seemed to like dropping thigs off this cliff and Lance liked picking them up. He liked shiny things, thought they were pretty, and humans seemed to be obsessed with them.

Lance picked through the silt at the bottom of the cliff, flicking his tail to stir up the sand. He didn’t see anything shining, which was a bit disappointing but, he was almost instantly distracted by a loud splash.

Lance’s head snapped up and he spotted someone thrashing in the water…and what was it with humans and trying to down lately. This human could blatantly not swim, struggling to keep their head above the water. Lucky Lance was here, lucky they hadn’t been impaled on the rocks or hit the cliff during their fall. Darting forwards, Lance wrapped his arms around the human’s waist, dodging the thrashing limbs as best he could. With a powerful flick of his tail, he pulled the two of them to the surface.

The human gripped Lance’s shoulders, taking several deep breaths and Lance was struck with a sudden realisation.  
“What the hell?” Lance snapped, “I save you when you fall off the boat and then you fall off a cliff? I think you should just avoid water from now on.”  
The human was still conscious this time, so Lance got a good look at dark blue/purple eyes glowering at him. The human did not seem all that happy, but he’d gone pretty much limp in Lance’s arms, only his hands gripping tightly to Lance’s shoulder. He didn’t seem to have anything to say, so with a shrug, Lance pulled him around to the beach.

The human walked out of the water, before turning around to look at Lance. He was still glaring lightly, but his eyes widened when he saw the long shark-tail extending behind Lance. It wasn’t like humans didn’t know mer existed, its just most won’t have any interaction with them, or have any they are aware of. Lance swished his tail lightly, churning up the water.  
“Look, just don’t count on me being there to save you next time,” Lance said, “Just stay away from water for a bit, you’re not having much luck.”  
Turning around, Lance dragged himself back into the water. The human was still there, standing on the beach as Lance swam away.

****

A few days past and Lance found himself back at the beach where he’d dropped off the human. What could he say? He was curious. What he wasn’t expecting was for the human to be there, sat on the beach, staring out into the water. Lance frowned lightly, what was the human doing? He could just leave, there was no obligation for him to speak to this human. But Lance was nothing if not curious, so he steadily swam closer.

“I thought I told you to stay away from the water,” Lance said, surfacing a short distance away from where the human was.  
The human’s head snapped up, immediately finding Lance’s head in the water. He stood up, making his way towards the waterline. Flicking his tail, Lance essentially beached himself so the human didn’t have to go any further than necessary.   
“What are you even doing out here? Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Lance asked.  
The human shook his head, before pointing to Lance.  
“You were looking for me?” Lance asked.  
The human shrugged, tilting his head from side to side.

Lance frowned, propping his chin up on his hand.  
“What were you even doing on that boat? And on the edge of that cliff?” he asked.  
The human looked at him, blinking lightly, before tapping his throat.  
“You can’t speak?” Lance asked.  
The human shook his head.  
“Huh,” Lance replied, “Interesting.”

****

Lance’s curiosity over the human only grew, the fact he couldn’t talk and answer all of Lance’s burning questions only fuelled the fire. As did the fact he didn’t seem all that bothered about the fact Lance was a mer. Lance just chattered away to him as the human sat beside him in silence, he seemed to be enjoying their time together, so Lance just kept going back.

One morning Lance headed towards the beach and his human wasn’t there. He halted almost immediately, ducking behind one of the rocks sticking out of the water. Peering around, Lance watched as the two of them walked along the beach, holding hands. As he watched, they lent in for a kiss. It was cute. He then spotted his human heading down the beach, who seemed to freeze at the sight of the other two humans. They noticed him and made their way up to talk to him. Lance’s human didn’t really seem all that happy around them, clearly very stiff and uncomfortable. Lance felt himself tensing, anger rising. Eventually, the two of them left and his human came further down the beach.

Lance bobbed closer, sliding up onto the beach and stretching out on his front.  
“So, who were they?” he asked, smiling lightly.  
His human curled his arms around himself, squeezing slightly before shrugging and gesturing to the big building on top of the cliff.  
“They live up there?” Lance replied, his human nodded, “Ah, how do you know them?”  
His human blinked, before his eyebrow twitched and he frowned.  
“I’m going to have to work it out myself then,” Lance said, “Will you tell me if I get it right?”  
His human let out a long breath, before shrugging.  
Lance hummed, “Childhood friends?”  
Head shake.  
“Parents are old friends?”  
Head shake.  
“Met randomly in the woods?”  
Another head shake.  
“You stumbled into the big house by accident?”  
An eyeroll accompanied the head shake.  
“Well you’re not giving me much to go off of!” Lance said.  
He got a smile from that one.

****

“Where have you been going!” Pidge said suddenly, making Lance jump.  
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lance shrugged.  
He sighed, stretching out more on the rock he was sunbathing on.  
“You’ve been vanishing, not being around, not hanging out with us,” Pidge said, listing off on her fingers.  
“Nothing unusual,” Lance said, “I’m a busy guy.”  
“You’re literally doing nothing,” Pidge said, gesturing around.  
“I’m taking a break from my busy life,” Lance replied.  
“We’re just worried about you dude,” Hunk added, propping his head up in his hand.  
“Nothing,” Lance shrugged, “Don’t worry, I’m just around.”

He could feel the look Pidge and Hunk shot each other, Lance sighed.  
“Look, I’m just hanging around the cliffs,” Lance said, “People toss stuff down there all the time, I like to see if I can find pretty things.”  
Pidge made a suspicious humming noise, before poking Lance in the cheek.  
“You’re just acting odd,” she said.  
“Odd?” Lance asked, flipping over onto his front, “How so?”  
“You’re acting like…like…” Pidge’s eyes widened, “Oh! Who are they?”  
“Who is who?” Lance asked.  
Hunk made an excited noise, slapping his hand on the rock.  
“You have a thing for someone.”

Lance felt his heart just about drop into his stomach.  
“No I don’t!” Lance protested, voice far, far too high pitched to be believable.  
“Oh my god,” Pidge said slapping her forehead, “Why didn’t I see it sooner, you have a thing for someone.”  
“No I…” Lance protested weakly, before burring his face in his hands.  
Oh no, no…no…no! This could not be happening. His human was...well human! Lance could not have a thing for him, he didn’t even know his human’s name.  
“Awh!” Hunk chirruped, “So who are they?”

Lance kept his head buried in his hands, letting out several harsh breaths.  
“Lance?” Hunk asked, “Lance are you ok?”  
Lance shook his head, curling his hands into fists.  
The sound of splashing and Lance was suddenly squished between his two friends.  
“Hey,” Pidge said, “What’s wrong?”  
Lance let out a huff of breath, “Nothing, it doesn’t matter.”  
“Oh come on,” Pidge said, “Don’t make me say it.”  
“You’re going to have to say it,” Hunk replied.  
“Please I don’t want to,” she said.  
“Just say it,” Hunk said.  
“Fine,” Pidge sighed, “We care about you and want to know what is bothering you ok?”

Lance looked up, glancing between them before flicking his tail lightly.  
“I can’t like him,” Lance said.  
“Is he a selkie?” Hunk asked, “You know your parents would be fine with that.”  
“Worse,” Lance said.  
“Not a trench mer,” Hunk said, “You can’t survive that deep and they don’t like light!”  
“He’s human,” Lance replied.  
There was a pause, then a blink.  
“You have got to be kidding me,” Pidge said.  
“I wish I was,” Lance said, collapsing back on the rock.

“So, how?” Hunk asked, “It’s not everyday you get to talk to a human.”  
“He fell off a boat into the water, then fell off a cliff into the water,” Lance said, “I saved him twice and we just started talking, well, I did, he can’t talk.”  
“Oh,” Pidge said, “He can’t talk? Sounds perfect for you.”  
“Shut up,” Lance said, “He’s nice, sweet. I don’t really know anything about his past though. Not that he could tell me even if he wanted to.”  
“So what are you thinking?” Hunk said.  
Lance shrugged, “Get over it, what else am I supposed to do. Humans and mer can’t be a thing, there’s no way.”  
“You could ask Shiro,” Hunk said.  
“What and leave the ocean? Leave my family?” Lance said, “No thanks.”  
“Maybe there’s another way?” Pidge asked, “Don’t know until you ask.”  
Lance shrugged, “I’ll think about it.”

****

Lance went to the docks late one night, scouring for coins people had dropped between the wood. Bobbing to the surface, Lance moved to tug at the mussels attached to the wood. They were Rachel’s favourite and it always paid to stay on her good side. That, was when he heard the sniffling.

Lance floated forwards slightly, eyes scanning the area to see if he could spot whoever was crying. It was really late at night, so who the hell was out at this time? Lance froze when he spotted the figure sitting on the dock, head buried in his hands. That was Lance’s human.

Flicking his tail, Lance launched himself onto the dock. His human jumped, staring at Lance, probably not expecting what just happened.  
“What’s wrong?” Lance asked, resting his hand on the human’s arm.  
He jerked away, glaring at Lance lightly with red eyes.   
“I look for coins and things here,” Lance explained, “Also the mussels attached to the posts are pretty good.”  
The human let out a long breath, looking down at his hands.  
“So, what’s wrong?” Lance asked, tilting his head to one side.  
The human glared at him for a moment, before letting out a long breath. For a moment, Lance honestly thought he was going to get up and leave. Lance blabbered for ages about his life, his family, everything really. His human seemed unwilling to share anything and not just because he couldn’t talk. This time though, there was a long sigh, before the gesturing started.

He tapped his chest lightly.  
“You?” Lance said.  
A nod, gesture of walking fingers.  
“Walk?”  
Shake  
“Go?”  
Head tilt.  
“Leave?”  
Nod, pointing to the building on the hill.  
“That building?”  
Shake.  
“Building?”   
Shake.  
“House?”  
Head tilt.  
“Home?”  
Nod.

“So, you left home?” Lance asked.  
His human nodded, before resting a hand over his chest.  
“What?”  
A frustrated frown, before he thumped his chest.  
“Chest?” Lance asked.  
An eyeroll, his human lifted up Lance’s hand, miming placing a kiss on it.  
“Kiss?”  
A glower.  
“Love?”  
A nod.  
“You left home because you love someone?” Lance asked.  
His human gestured idly.  
“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Lance said.  
He got an eyeroll for that. But Lance had a sinking feeling in his chest, his human was sobbing, on his own, in the dark.  
“They don’t love you back?” Lance asked.  
A nod.  
“Why don’t you go back home?”  
A headshake.  
“You can’t?”  
Another nod.  
“I’m sorry.”  
A shrug.

There was a long beat of silence.  
“So there’s no chance?” Lance asked.  
The human shook his head. He gestured to his neck, then his left hand. Lance was confused for a few moments, then he realised what was being mimed.  
“Marriage?” he asked, a nod.  
“They married someone else?” Lance asked.  
Another nod.  
“Well…that sucks,” Lance said.  
He got a weak smile for that.   
“I was supposed to get married you know,” Lance said, leaning back.  
He got a curious look.  
“To a prince of the next kingdom over, he vanished before we could though.”  
Wide-eyed his human stared at him.  
“I didn’t tell you I was a prince did I?”  
A headshake.  
“Probably should have mentioned that.”  
A nod.

****

I’ll think about it turned into Lance braving the dark waters to find himself in Shiro’s cave. Ok, braving was a stretch, the only thing scary about Shiro’s cave was it was dark and kind of…spiky. There were also sharks that patrolled around the area, but they didn’t bother Lance.

Running his hand down the side of one of them, Lance smiled.  
“Hey buddy,” Lance said with a smile, “You doing a good job huh.”  
The shark flicked past him, and Lance continued forwards.

“Hello? Shiro?” Lance called into the cave, slipping between the spiky rocks, “Are you there?”  
“Who’s there?” a voice called from deeper in the cave.  
“Um, I’m Lance? Prince of the sharks?” Lance called.  
He’d never met Shiro before, never really had a reason to use his magic. Everyone had heard of him though.  
“Prince of the sharks? Interesting,” Shiro said.  
Lance flicked forwards slightly, hovering slightly in what could be equated to a doorway.  
“I need some help,” he said.  
“Of course,” Shiro said, “That’s all anyone comes for.”  
Lance winced, “I’m sorry?”  
“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault,” Shiro said, “I’m the one living in a dark cave…in the middle of nowhere…with sharks surrounding the area…yeah, it’s really my own fault. So, what are you after?”

“It’s a bit of a strange request,” Lance said, flicking in a bit more.  
“I promise you,” Shiro said, “It will not be the strangest thing I’ve ever been asked for.”  
“I, I think I like a human?” Lance said, “And I want to do something about it?”  
Shiro froze for a second, before shaking his head.  
“No, no, nononononononono…I can’t help you,” he said, waving his hands around, “I don’t do transformations into humans anymore, anything else yes, this no.”  
“Wait, wait,” Lance said, cutting off Shiro’s rambling, “I don’t want to be a human.”  
“You don’t?” Shiro asked, “Well, good, so what were you thinking?”  
“I don’t know, I was hoping for suggestions?” Lance said.

Shiro hummed, tapping his chin lightly. He opened his mouth several times to say something, but kept closing it thoughtfully.   
“There might be something I can do,” Shiro said hesitantly, “But it won’t be easy. Do you really like this human?”  
Lance nodded, “I do, I just, he seems so lonely and I want to help.”  
Shiro nodded, “Alright, There are several ingredients I need you to gather, they’re not hard to get a hold of, they’re just a bit far away. The finished product should enable him to breathe underwater, although, he’d not park selkie or mer or anything water based right? Because it will turn him into that.”  
Lance nodded, “I can do that and I don’t think so?”  
Shiro nodded, “I’ll give you a list, when you get everything to me, I can make it for you.”

****

“I need to go away for a while,” Lance said, “I’ll be back soon enough.”  
His human stared at him for a moment, face dropping and arms crossing over his chest.   
“I have something important to do, I’ll be back before you know it,” Lance shrugged.  
His human seemed to droop even more, picking lightly at his fingernails.  
“Promise, you won’t even miss me,” Lance smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Won’t even notice I’m gone.”  
This didn’t seem to help, so Lance pulled him into a hug. His human was not expecting this and tensed at the contact, but soon relaxed against Lance’s chest.   
“Just don’t go falling off things into the water while I’m away ok?” Lance said, “I won’t be here to save you.”  
There was a huff of breath against his collarbone, and hesitant arms wrapped around his waist.

Shiro was right, the ingredients were not difficult to get, just far apart. Lance had been to far flung placed before, he was a shark, migrating around the ocean was what they did. He collected fallen sharks teeth, headed to the icy waters to sheer a tiny amount of a narwhal tusk, dove into the depths to collect whale bones, plucked spines of urchins, arms off starfish, a hair from the mane of a sea serpent. There was not one corner of the ocean he had not scoured. A black pearl, scales from the immortal fish, a sucker from a kraken, an increasing range of rare and exotic ingredients.

It took a while, but eventually, Lance had brought Shiro all the ingredients. He slept for almost a full day after that, after having to endure the endless badgering from Pidge and Hunk. After that, he collected the finished potion from Shiro and headed towards the beach.

****

His human wasn’t there, which was probably not unexpected. Lance splayed out on the rock beside the beach, looking out to the sand. He didn’t appear that day, or the next, or the next. Lance began to grow worried, had he forgotten? Given up on Lance? Left the area?

On the fifth day, Lance was just about ready to give up. Maybe his human had found happiness, that would be nice. It broke his heart, but, just as long as he was happy. After all, that was what this had been for. So what if he found that happiness without Lance. Flicking his tail, Lance thumped it on the rock. Alright, fine, Lance was a little annoyed, he’d done so much to get this potion.

The sound of loud splashing, Lance’s head shot up. His human, there, wading through the water towards him.  
“Hey! Hey! What?” Lance said, reaching out a hand.  
His human grabbed his hand, allowing Lance to pull him up onto the rock.  
“What on earth were you?” Lance started, but never finished.  
Arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. Lance laughed, curling his own arms around the human.  
“I didn’t think you were going to come back,” Lance said with a chuckle.  
A headshake and a squeeze.  
“So you missed me?”  
There was no reply to that, but Lance could see the pale skin going red.  
“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

The two of them sat together on the rock, Lance held out the small glass bottle.  
“This should help you breathe underwater,” he said, “It’s what I’ve been getting for you while I’ve been away. This way, you can come visit my family, my friends, you wouldn’t have to be so alone anymore. Apparently if you’re half a water-based creature like a selkie you’ll become one? So just?”  
Whatever Lance was going to say next was cut off as arms wrapped tightly around his neck, his human burying his face in the soft skin there.  
“Um? Ok, it’s not really that big of a…” Lance started, but was cut off again as the human pressed their lips together.

Lance froze, at a complete loss as to what was happening. It finally seemed registered and he began to kiss his human back, resting one hand on his waist, the other curling in his hair.  
Lance pulled away slightly.  
“What was that for?”  
A look of how can you be so stupid, but with an affectionate smile.  
“Yeah but, what about the other…” Lance said.  
A hand over his mouth stopped Lance from continuing, he got an eyeroll and the human’s hand moving from over his mouth to cup his cheek. He pressed their lips together again, before taking the small glass bottle out of Lance’s hand.   
“I mean…you don’t have to if you don’t want too I just thought…” Lance didn’t even get to finish before his human drained the whole thing in one, “Or you could do that I guess.”

There was a pause and Lance wondered if it had worked, then his human doubled over, clutching his head.  
“Hey,” Lance said, “Hey, are you ok?”  
It was a really, really stupid question. Especially as the human began to pitch sideways, ridged in pain. Lance reached forwards, grabbing him so he wouldn’t fall in the water and pulling him into a tight hug.  
“You’re ok,” Lance said softly, “You’re going to be ok.”

Lance held him close to his chest, rubbing up and down his back and holding tight as he thrashed in pain. He had no idea what to do, what was happening, all he could do was hold his human tight and wait for the pain to pass. And hope nothing bad would happen, well, nothing worse then what was currently happening.

Eventually, his human went limp in his arms. Lance let out a long breath, nosing lightly at his human’s hair. It took a moment for Lance to realise he’d squeezed his eyes closed, human clutched close to him. Cautiously, Lance peeled his eyes open, moving his human away from his chest to look down at him. A sharp inhale as Lance cupped the face of…who was a human.

Red scales crawled up his neck and cheeks, fins folded in front of his ears. Lance shifted his eyes down, the red and black scales running down his arms to slightly webbed fingers. A smooth black and red tail laying over the rock with soft fish-fins spread out. He was a mer, a reef mer if Lance took a guess. A hand curled around his wrist and purple-blue eyes flickered open to look at him.  
“Lance,” he croaked, voice rough with disuse.  
His head dropped backwards as he fell unconscious.

****

Lance looked out at the water, wondering how long he could stay here until someone realised he was missing. Sighing, Lance looked back and down. What was once his human, who is now apparently a mer was curled up in the curve of Lance’s tail. His head was resting on Lance’s waist, soft puffs of water running over his skin. Reaching out, Lance tangled his hand in dark hair, scratching lightly at the scalp underneath. He got a soft noise and the mer curled up tighter, before opening his eyes.

“Lance?” he croaked out again.  
His eyes darted down, looking at his hands, his tail, smoothing his hands up his face to his earfins. Lance just watched, waiting for the mer to get his barings.  
“I guess I owe you an explanation,” he said, smiling a little awkwardly.   
“You could start with your name,” Lance replied.   
He pushed himself out of the curve of Lance’s tail, resting on the rocky floor of the underwater cave beside him.   
“I’m Keith,” he said, “I…I’m the prince of the reef mer, I guess…that makes me your fiancé?”

Lance froze, staring at Keith, twitching his tail lightly.  
“You’re who?” he said.  
“Keith,” he said, “Prince of the reef mer, I…”  
He looked up the top of the cave, flicking his fins.  
“The night before our wedding, I panicked,” he continued, “I had fallen in love with a human and…no offense…I didn’t really want to marry a stranger. So, I went to Shiro and he made me human. The human though, he loved another and I…didn’t think there was any way I could return home.”  
Reaching out, Lance rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

Keith looked up, smiling lightly. Flicking his tail, Keith swam to cup Lance’s face gently.  
“But you,” Keith said, “You did so much for me, you travelled through every ocean for me.”  
Keith pressed their mouths together, curling his arms around Lance. Making a surprised noise, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist, pulling him closer.   
“You brought me home,” Keith whispered softly.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a thing...I don't know what it is...it's a thing. If you hadn't guessed, Keith is basically the little mermaid. But...you know...the prince didn't love him back.
> 
> So comments and kudos are appreciated, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
